DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

刻不容緩

简刻不容缓 · 繁刻不容緩

Mandarin · pinyin kè bù róng huǎn

to brook no delay
to demand immediate action

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Characters in this entry

刻: kè · carve, engrave; quarter hour
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
容: róng · looks, appearance; figure, form
緩: Look up this written character
缓: huǎn · slow, leisurely; to postpone, delay

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–4–2–3 · ke4 bu4 rong2 huan3

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

刻不容緩 · find source passages ↗ · 刻不容缓 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hak1 bat1 jung4 wun4 · hak1 bat1 jung4 wun6

Cantonese word readings for 刻不容緩. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to not tolerate any further delay; to be very urgent

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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